Scent of Prey
by Leonaria Dragonbane
Summary: Why does Sabretooth pick the prey he does, when he's hunting for his own pleasure, one Rogue makes him question it. ROCTOR
1. Chapter 1

Scent of Prey

I'm not really sure where this one comes from, but the Roctor idea is really getting to me, so expect some serious Victor/Rogue action. All the disclaimers apply I don't own them, wish I did.

Chapter 1

Victor never thought about it much, why one frail wouldn't even spark an interest while another would have him insane for blood and fear and sex. His paid kills he didn't care so much, but when he was hunting for his own pleasure, some frails just caught his attention. At least it never crossed his mind until he scented the frail with the skin. She didn't just smell like prey, she smelled like a seven course dinner with dessert. If the runt hadn't been there the first time he got a good scent of her, Magneto would have had to power his own damned machine.

By the time they grabbed her at the train station he'd prepared himself for her scent, but still had insisted that Toad carry her or he'd lose control. Having her on the island kept him pacing the entire night thinking of a million ways to get around her skin and do the things he wanted to do to her soft, frail body. It hadn't helped that she stank of fear the whole time, and he'd had to guard her, and keep Toad from doing what he was wanting to do himself.

The boat was worse, she was terrified, but still brave, he'd had to keep from laughing at her repartee with Mags, and been punished by having to be the one to put her in the machine. She smelled so sweet, her blood pounding in her veins, the smell of her fear making his cock throb as she cringed while he cuffed her to the machine. He was in agony by the time she was secure, and he'd stepped back, knowing she could see him as he grinned at her, and unfastened his pants.

"Can't do what I want, frail, don't mean you can't watch while I take care of what you do to me." He'd growled at her as he started stroking his cock, her eyes wide, her fear filling the air as she watched him. He knew stark terror when he smelled it and it was completely arousing to him, and the fact that she couldn't take her eyes off of him, and he could smell her getting aroused at the same time just made it perfect for him to shoot his cum onto the deck of the boat. He wiped himself and put his cock away, he noticed a drop on the tip of his claw. He walked back into the machine and used her scarf to grab her jaw, forcing her mouth open as he wiped that drop on her tongue and lips.

"Someday, if you survive this, you'll get more of that." He whispered as he slammed the door of the machine. He heard her retching and gagging and just laughed as he walked away.

The problem was, there was something. He winced as she cried for help, and part of him wanted to go and rip her out of there. She was HIS, not Magneto's she should be screaming...under him, bleeding under him, and with that power of hers he could keep her alive a LONG time...he might actually be fully sated before she died. He winced at that thought, just as the runt broke free, and he had other things to think about. And then he was falling one hundred feet through a boat to the bottom of the river, and his eyes never left her, trapped in that machine.

It took him hours to heal enough to climb out of the river, soaking wet and feeling completely lost, he didn't understand it. He was fine, a little sore and soaked, but he was just fine. He went looking for someplace to snag some dry clothes and maybe a piece of frail to deal with the frustration, and that was when it hit him. He could smell frails, but none of them even smelled appetizing. As a matter of fact, their scents made him nauseas. He found some clothes drying on a line and grabbed some jeans that looked like they'd fit, and a short sleeved shirt. None of the long sleeved ones looked like they'd fit. He kicked off his wet boots and wiggled his toes in the dirt, claws digging in like he hadn't allowed himself to do in a while.

He wrapped his wet things in his fur cloak and secured it to his back with straps he'd built in for just this purpose. He could feel the water seeping into his back but he didn't have a whole lot of choice, at least he just looked like a guy with a backpack if no one looked too close. He found a bathroom at a closed gas station and used his claws to sheer his hair off short. He couldn't afford to be recognized as the guy that fell off the statue. He had a razor in his wet leather pants and used it to razor cut himself a decent crew cut. It would grow out again, and right now he needed to change his look. He used it to trim his eyebrows back to a human length, and remove his muttonchops. He looked better than he had in twenty years, and somehow he knew he was going to have to hide for a while, and he wanted to make sure the frail survived the machine.

She was his, he'd made that decision, and nothing, certainly not his runt of a brother, was going to keep him away from what was his. He carefully made sure every piece of hair fell into the trash can liner, and gathered it up with him and tucked it in his still sodden 'backpack.' After Stryker, he learned to never leave a piece of him laying around, you never knew who'd get their hands on your DNA.

He slipped out of the bathroom and looked around. There wasn't anyone around, so he ripped up one of the lids to the fill tanks and took a hand full of paper towels, making sure they stayed connected and rolled them together into a short fuse. He tucked one end under the lid of the storage tank, and lit the other end. He could smell the fumes escaping the tank and knew the station would go up like fireworks on the Fourth of July, just in case he'd left any DNA laying around. Half filled tanks like that were dangerous, especially if someone knew how to open the pressure lid and let air in - and fumes out.

He took off running and ducked around the corner of a large brick building as he heard the first small explosion, just the escaped fumes this time, but he knew he had about a minute to a minute and a half to get someplace where the blast wave wouldn't hit him when the main tanks exploded. He took off at a trot, there were enough buildings around that they would blunt the blast wave as long as he ducked behind one in time.

Three days later he settled down in a cheap motel. He wanted to make sure she survived, and then he was going to take off. He knew that he needed to get away from her, away from her scent as fast as he could before he lost complete control. He didn't want things to be too quick, he wanted to have the time to enjoy her and he knew if he didn't plan it carefully he'd end up having to rush it. He spent most of his time watching the local news, and keeping close watch on the school.

Four days into his watch he saw her, for just a moment, on one of the porches of the damned mansion, but that was enough. She was alive, and, for now, safely out of reach, so he gave up his watch, stole a motorcycle from a local bar, and took off for parts unknown.


	2. Chapter 2

Three years later;

She stood in the slowly moving line. Her feet were sore and she didn't dare sleep or she'd lose here place. This was her only chance at a life, a family, a home and she wasn't going to give it up. Not now, not after waiting so long. She'd heard about the team, Jean, on the radio but couldn't go back, not without her dose.

"You really want to do this, Kid?". She jumped at the voice. For one second she thought it was Logan come to talk her out of it, but then she saw him. She hadn't seen him since the statue and felt the sheer terror of that day crash over her.

"Now, Kid, if you don't stop I'm gonna forget why I'm here. An you don't want that." He pushed off the corner of the building he was leaning on and walked over to where she stood in line.

"Hey, you can't just cut in line!" The guy behind her yelled at him.

"Not cutting, just talking, bub." Creed growled at him. The man backed off. Marie had to admit, he looked very different than he had three years ago. He was actually wearing a pair of dress slacks, a nice button down grey shirt and loafers instead of boots. He was clean shaven and had a close cropped hair cut that made his hair look darker that it really was. He moved closer to her and pitched his voice into a low purr.

"Do you really want to get rid of the one thing that makes you different from the prey of the world? Do you really want to be like them?" He was circling here now, his low voice almost hypnotic.

"Ah want a life." She said sharply.

"What if you could have that without giving it up?" He was right behind her and she could feel his breath on her cheek as he leaned over her. "I can give you that."

She could feel him so close to touching her but not, the warmth of his cheek radiating against hers in the cool fall air.

"How?" She spun to face him and he laughed.

"Now that would be telling, Kid." He reached out a clawed finger and stroked a strand of her hair off her cheek, brushing her skin in the process. She hissed, waiting on her skin to pull from him but it didn't. "Just a taste of what I can give you, if you want it." He grinned, fangs flashing in the dying sunlight.

"What do you mean?" She glared at him.

"I mean, Kid, I can touch you." He grinned. "I've put years of work into this, and I can touch you all I want." He stroked her cheek with the back of one of his clawed fingers. She couldn't help herself she leaned into his finger, relishing the touch, even of a man she was terrified of.

"Darlin', if you don't stop that I won't be able to control myself, and I'm workin very hard on that." He purred, his voice going straight down her spine in a combination of terror chills and heat that went right to her groin.

"What do you want?"

"That's complicated. Right now, I want you to get the hell out of this line, and come with me so we can talk." He said softly, again the soft purr went right down her spine. She knew only Logan knew where she went, and his head wasn't exactly going to be in the right place after what happened. She looked longingly at the clinic and noticed the door closed, and people getting angry at the front of the line. Suddenly someone threw a rock through the window and the orderly line was quickly turning into a mob. She debated her options and looked at Creed.

"Fine, we'll go someplace and talk." She said. He just smiled and held his hand out to guide her down an alley. He even picked up her bag and carried it for her. At the end was an opening onto another street, and a large black SUV. He opened the door and actually handed her into the vehicle like a gentleman, before closing the door and walking around to the driver's side. He opened the back passenger door and dropped her bag on the back seat, then opened the front driver's side door and climbed in.

"Dinner?" He growled.

"Are you askin, or saying Ah'm on the menu?" He glared at her, and then grinned.

"I'm asking." He said, and she nodded.

"Fine. Dinner." She wasn't going to deny she was hungry, the jerky she'd packed had run out two days ago.

He drove to an upscale restaurant and pulled into the parking lot. He walked around the car and opened her door and held out his hand to help her out. She put her gloved one in his and stepped down from the vehicle. She couldn't believe it was him. Where was the monster she'd seen outside that machine, that had forced her to taste him when he was done. She was leery, but hungry and if he was paying, she'd accept.

They walked in the door and right past the line of people waiting for a table. The hostess didn't even try to stop them, just smiled at him like she wanted to have him for dinner, and told the next couple the wait was going to be three hours, and they should have made a reservation.

He led her to secluded table near the back of the restaurant. He held out the chair and waited for her to slip her coat off and sit down. She felt a little underdressed and tried to hide behind a plant. She looked around but couldn't see the restrooms.

"Around the corner behind me." He said quietly and she stood up and walked slowly around the half wall and down the hallway. She slipped into the bathroom and tried to do something with her hair, and her hands. They were filthy. She finally got her nails clean, and washed her face. She had a pony tail holder in her pocket, and pulled her hair back and into a quick up-do. She pinched her cheeks and bit her lips to make her look like she was wearing a little light makeup and looked ruefully at her blouse. It had certainly seen better days after standing in line for days on end. She finally decided she was as close as she could be to presentable and walked out.

He'd ordered drinks and appetizers and they were at the table when she got back. She took a sip of her tea and looked at the stuffed mushrooms longingly, but she wasn't going to take anything from him until he started talking.

"Go ahead and eat, Kid. Killing you isn't part of the plan." He said with a smirk. She reached over and picked up her fork and the small appetizer plate and scooped one onto it, cutting it neatly before taking a small bite. He just chuckled and took a long swig of the beer he had sitting in front of him.

"Why do you bother, you're factor won't let ya get drunk anyway?" She asked. She'd asked Logan that once but he'd just glared at her.

"I like the taste." He grinned.

"Ah think its gross." She grimaced as he chuckled.

"A lady shouldn't drink beer." He grinned.

"That's what my momma said."

He chuckled again. She took another mushroom and cut into it.

"Okay...you wanted to talk, to talk." She said finally, struggling to keep from just picking the damned thing up and popping it in her mouth.

"I learned how to touch you. It took years. I started out wanting to know why, why you didn't smell like prey, but like something dropped from heaven. Then I just wanted to touch you, so I started looking for scientists, someone, anyone who could help me. I found one, and we found out you're not the only one like you, just the most powerful we've ever seen. I had several subjects to practice on, but until today I didn't know if it was enough."

"Why?"

"Because, it was a challenge. You're probably the only mutant on the planet that could kill me, and I needed to defend against you." She didn't think that was the truth, but she shrugged.

The waiter brought their plates and she was surprised to find that he'd ordered her favorite, grilled salmon with rice and steamed vegetables. He'd ordered himself a large rare steak with a potato that he ignored. She flaked the salmon delicately taking small bites and forcing herself to take her time.

"So what do you want, Ah mean so what you can touch me, Ah ain't exactly droppin my guard around you." She said quietly.

"You will, because learning what I did to be able to touch you, I learned what you need to learn to be able to touch anyone." She choked on her salmon.

"What?"

"What I can do, to touch you, you can learn to do to be able to touch anyone." He said, slowly, then took a bite of his steak. She just stared at him for a moment, then took a sip of her tea.

"Ah can't control it."

"Yes you can, and I can teach you."

"Why?"

"Oh, the lessons don't come without a cost. I will teach you, if you do what I want."

"And what's that?"

"A topic for a more private setting." He said, taking another bite.

"Ah ain't goin anywhere else with you until you tell me." She said.

"Fine. Here's my deal. I need a...cultured lady to impress some people for a while, beautiful, sassy, full of fire and spunk and courage, who can hold her own among people that could eat ME for lunch...if I wasn't one of them." He put his fork and knife down. "I will teach you how to control your skin, but only after you spend one year with me, on my arm, hosting events and parties for me, being my trophy, sharing my home, my room and my bed."

"Have you lost your mind?" She snapped.

"No. I have what you want, and you have what I want, I thought a fair exchange was in order."

"You want me to be your whore for a year."

"NO! I'd kill a whore in a week. You I can loan my healing factor to, I KNOW you'll survive, and not have a mark to show for it, I promise." He growled.

"You bastard."

"And...your point is." He grinned as if she'd said something funny.

"Ah ain't some whore."

"I never said you were. As I said you have what I want."

"And what's that?"

"You." He was serious. No grin, no snarl, no growl, just a look of pure lust on his face, just like on the boat.

"What if Ah figure it out?" She asked.

"Then you're free to leave. I'll even give you the loophole. I have three conditions of my own. You don't tell that idiot brother of mine what you're doing, you act in every way shape and form as if you are with me of your own free will, as my 'girlfriend' even in bed, and no protection."

"What?"

"If you get pregnant, I'll take care of it, but I don't do 'safe sex' for anyone."

"What do you mean, you'll take care of it?" She glared

"That will be up to you, won't it? If you want to keep it, I'll make sure you're set for life, and won't fight for custody. If you don't, I'll take care of that too." He shrugged as if it wasn't important to him.

"Do Ah have time to think about it?" She asked.

"Until dessert."


	3. Chapter 3

He sat there watching her push her food around on her plate. Part of him was enjoying her discomfort. He knew she was hungry but was putting off dessert as long as she could while she tried to come to a decision. It was only an illusion anyway, allowing her to think she had a choice. She was coming with him no matter what and if she honestly thought he'd let her go after a year he was giving her too much credit for intelligence. He did want her to make the choice, it would make things easier on the front end, especially since he had a business dinner in three days and wanted to be able to take her.

"So?" He said finally.

"I ain't through eating yet.". She said and he laughed.

"I'm ready for dessert." He signaled the waiter and she quickly finished off her food. He didn't laugh, something about her being that hungry bothered him.

She took a big gulp of her tea and he could smell that she was nervous, but resolved. He hid his grin.

"Ah don't like it." She started. "But Ah can't keep living like this and who knows how long the Cure really works. Ah've got some rules of my own.". He bit back a growl, she didn't make the rules. He waited to see what they were.

"Ah'm on birth control, so the no protection thing ain't that big a deal breaker." She started. He'd fix that later but for now he nodded. "Ah'll have ta let Logan know Ah'm okay, Ah don't know who your brother is so that part won't be a big deal Ah guess.". He growled a little but let her continue, he'd see to her education on that matter later too. "As to the acting like your girlfriend, that's not gonna be easy, but Ah'll try."

"Try is good, but if you agree to this its for one year, no matter what.". He growled.

"Fine, one year as your girlfriend in exchange for learnin ta control my powers." She thrust her hand across the table as if a handshake meant something to him. He grinned, and it widened as she flinched at the sight of his fangs and took her tiny hand in his.

"Deal." He shook her hand. "Cheesecake?"

"No, thank you, Ah'm stuffed." He smiled and pulled a wallet out of his pocket and dropped a one hundred dollar bill on the table.

"Lets go." He stood and held a hand out to her. She took it, and stood up. He put a hand on her back as she picked up her coat and guided her toward the door. The same hostess smiled at them again as they walked out to the SUV.

He opened the door again, and she climbed into the passenger seat. He walked around and opened the driver's side. He was still grinning, he hadn't expected her to just agree, and was actually pleased he'd listened to his rational side and tried reason and persuasion over force this time. He certainly knew she'd be a hit at the party this weekend, and he knew one lady that would just adore her.

She looked at him as he got started the car. "So where're we goin?"

"I've got a penthouse in New York, and a dinner engagement this weekend I'd like us to go to." He said.

"Dinner engagement?"

"Its formal."

"Ah don't have anything formal in mah bag." Her accent was stronger when she was nervous but that just turned him on more.

"You've got a wardrobe at the penthouse, you won't need that bag for at least a year." 

"At least?"

"You may not want to leave?" He laughed. He knew she wouldn't, he had the whole thing planned. She was quiet until they hit New York.

"What kind of thing is this dinner engagement?" She asked and he could smell her nerves.

"It's a charity thing. Wilson Fisk, Tony Stark, Jonah Jamison, Matt Murdock, and quite a few other wealthy individuals will be there. I'm trying to get the Daily Bugle and Stark Industries as clients for some of my investment packages at Creed Enterprises. I am gonna need you to schmooze Pepper, Tony's assistant. He won't make any decisions without her, and she doesn't like me much, so if you can get her to like you, she might be a little easier on me and the 401(k) plan I'm trying to sell to Stark." He maneuvered the SUV into a long term parking garage. She'd started out confused but was no just curious. That was a good thing. She needed to understand that there was more to him than just what the geeks had told her. He waited for her to get out and then opened the back passenger door and grabbed her bag.

"So the whole 'mutants ruling the world' thing is just a hobby?" She asked. He laughed. She was going to be exactly what he needed to get his long term goals into place.

"Yes, I've got five major talents, three of which are my mutation, the outer characteristics..." He held the elevator door open for her and she walked in front of him. He took a deep breath, her scent was still intoxicating, still the only thing that could send him into a surge of lust from over a mile away. " the inner stuff, the senses, my healing factor which is actually a second mutation, not related to the first two, I am a wiz at math, have been since I can remember. I started Creed Enterprises to just have an outlet for it, I make more money with that than I do the 'mutants ruling the world' thing."

He punched a button and the elevator started moving. She was putting off a little fear and he knew he was the cause. Her fear just made his reaction to her stronger, couldn't this elevator move any faster. If they didn't get into the penthouse soon he was going to take her here against a wall.

"So what's the fifth?"

"Fifth?' He wanted to slap himself for stuttering over the word.

"You said you have five talents."

"Oh...number five is I can touch you." He looked over at her and gave her a grin. She didn't flinch but the scent of her fear increased. MOVE! He mentally roared at the elevator. She was exhausted, hadn't slept in three days and she needed a bath before he'd be able to keep things within his plan and forcing her in the elevator wasn't part of his plan.

"Oh."

He closed his eyes, but that didn't help his other senses, He could hear the rustle of her hair as she moved, smell her fear, curiosity, resolution, and pain. That last one bothered him a bit. Fear and pain usually sent him into a full mating frenzie, but this was different.

"You okay, Kid?"

"My feet hurt, my back hurts, Ah'm not hungry anymore and Ah guess all the other crap is starting to hurt." He just nodded.

"I'll run you a hot bath when we get to the penthouse." He hated sounding solicitous but she needed it.

"Thank you." Finally the elevator let out a shrill ding, someday he was going to rip that thing out, but the people in the offices below didn't seem to mind it, and he liked to keep his employees happy.

The door opened onto a hallway with a single door at the end. He walked to the door and she followed. Somehow eating something made her look even more tired and bedraggled than she had in the Cure line.

He pulled out his keys and opened the door. He didn't even glance around, but heard her gasp as she entered the room. He dropped his keys on the table next to the door and headed toward a hallway that led deeper into the penthouse. He opened one door and dropped her bag on the thick carpet of the bedroom, then shut it again. He could hear her moving around, almost afraid to touch anything as he started the water in the huge tub. He put some unscented bath gel and shampoo next to the tub and turned on the timer for the whirlpool jets. They had automatic sensors and wouldn't come on until completely covered with water. He knew the tub took at least twenty minutes to fill so he had time for any other questions she might have.


	4. Chapter 4

She gasped as she walked in the door. The place was gorgeous, and meticulously clean. There were art pieces she'd only seen in books on stands and hanging on walls. There was a huge picture window that looked out on the New York skyline and in front of it was a copy of the Venus DeMilo. The furniture was just as impressive as the art and she was afraid to touch anything as dirty as she was. She felt suddenly scared, but not of him, scared that she wasn't going to be able to handle what he wanted from her, that she was just a poor girl from Mississippi, not some debutant who knew about this world he lived in.

"Bath's running." He said as he dropped on the heavy leather sofa, as if exhausted. He still looked like he was ready to spring into action at any second, but was holding himself back. She sat gingerly on the edge of one sofa, her green duster putting of a slight puff of dust.

"Sorry." She said.

"For what, housekeeping will take care of it." He said. He just sat there watching her, seemed to be waiting for something.

"So, what do you want from me?"

"I told you, you are mine for one year, you..."

"No Ah mean right now, Ah got the whole idea for the year." She snapped.

"Right now, I honestly expect you to go relax in a hot bath, and maybe curl up on the couch to watch some news, financial reports, and then we go to bed...together, and I don't expect to go to sleep right away." He leered at her.

"Oh." She didn't know if she could do it. She'd barely learned how to take care of her own frustration.

"I don't plan on hurting you, so calm down. I know you ain't done this before, I know you and the ice prick never did anything, and my idiot brother is too damned much of a gentleman to touch you, so I've taken that into account."

"Who's your brother?" He kept saying things and she was beginning to get nervous.

"Jimmy, James Howlett. You call him Logan." He growled. She jumped. Logan was his brother...but he didn't want her to tell his brother what was going on.

"How can Ah let him know Ah'm okay if you don't want me talkin to him?"

"Oh, he'll know you're okay. You're going to be on the front of the society pages for the next year at least, on my arm. If he can't remember I'm his brother that's his FUCKING problem.' He growled it low, and she could sense the anger in him. This was something deep, something more than just being irritated or something.

"He's your brother, but he don't remember you? Why?" He just glared at her and she got the message. No more discussion of Logan.

"Your bath should be ready. Third door on the left down the hall. I need a drink." He growled. She stood up as he did, he pointed down the hallway, and she knew it was an order, not a request. She heard him open a door on one of the carved cabinets and the chink of glass as he pulled something out.

She opened the third door and gasped at the billow of steam that came out. The entire room was fogged and she waited until the air cleared enough to see. She looked at the tub and gasped. "That's not a bath tub, its a damned pool." She heard him chuckle and closed the door behind her. The water was still running and she reached over and turned it off.

She stripped out of her filthy clothes and dropped them on a padded bench set against the wall. The entire bathroom was in brass and black marble with the huge white marble tub half sunken into the floor. She stepped over the side and down into the water and let out a sigh. She hadn't been clean in days, barely had been able to get someone to hold her place long enough to find a bathroom and come right back. She found a ledge on the side of the tub to sit on, and leaned forward, scooping water up to wash her face off.

"There's soap and shampoo on the side." She heard him from the door.

"Ah didn't see it." She said. She heard the chink of ice in his glass as he set it down on a table near the door.

"Get your hair wet." She heard the scrape of chair legs across the floor and quickly ducked under the fast moving water, hoping it hid enough detail that she wasn't completely naked under his gaze. "Lean back."

She did and felt a groove in the tub, a perfect fit for her neck. She heard him twist a knob and felt cooler water than the tub rush over her scalp. She felt his fingers pulling the tangled pony tail holder from her hair and winced when he pulled too hard. She felt the cool shampoo and he carefully massaged it through her hair, his claws barely grazing her scalp, certainly no worse than a hair brush would.

"When my hair was long, I loved having someone wash it like this for me." He said softly, "at least while I was human enough to enjoy being clean."

"Human enough?"

"I know you don't know anything about me and James, and you need to. I am going to promise you something, and do my damnedest to keep it. If I'm pissed at you, you'll know it, but I won't hurt you if I'm not pissed AT you." She thought that was at least something. She kept reminding herself why she agreed to this. Control, over her skin, over her life. Not to be used as a tool by anyone anymore, nor so wrapped up and protected that she couldn't have a simple hug without people being afraid. She hadn't had someone wash her hair since she was sixteen and her mutation started and she'd forgotten just how good a scalp massage could feel.

"When James and I were together, taking care of each other, it was easier to keep the feral side locked away for long periods of time. When he abandoned me...I just let it go, let it take over. It was that side of me you saw, at the statue, in Canada. It is a part of me, but when I can stay rational, I can keep it as just a tool, something else to use to further my goals."

"You were together a long time then?" She asked. His claws clenched in her hair a second and then went back to rinsing the shampoo. She felt another cool wash of it and he began lathering and massaging her scalp again.

"Since we were kids. His claws came out when he was about eleven. He killed our father with them and we had to run. He was my brother, I had to take care of him."

"Of course you did." She said softly. She felt him stop, and even with her eyes closed knew he had a smile on his face.

"I knew you'd understand, Kid." He said as he rinsed her hair. She heard him move back and a door open. He came back and sat down, running his hands through her hair and she could smell something that made her think of the soft silk pajamas she had in her bag.

"What's that?"

"Silk protein gel, your hair's a mess, Kid."

"Marie."

"What?"

"My name's Marie."

"Victor." He said softly. He moved again and she heard another cabinet door open. He set a large towel down next to the tub. "Just relax a while, you probably need it, Marie."


	5. Chapter 5

AN Sorry this is short, but Victor's head isn't a pretty place to be all the time.

His control was slipping one claw at a time. He could hear her lazy movements in the water and it was taking every bit of his will to keep from walking in there and taking what was his. The animal would have it's day, but not yet.

She had no idea how important she was to his plans, how much work had gone into even the simplest decisions about her, how much blood he'd spilled to have her here like this and he wasn't going to allow his own animal to screw it up.

He poured himself another drink. The alcohol didn't actually effect him completely, but it did act as a relaxant, allowing him some control over the animal, at least temporarily. He needed to be relaxed and focused the rest of the night.

He leaned back on the couch and thought about everything from the statue until now that led to her soaking in his tub.

He left the bike on the side of the road and flagged down a semi.

"Where're ya headin'?" The old man asked.

"Seattle.". He answered, choking down the urge to kill the man.

"Long drive, I'm stoppin in Omaha.". Victor just nodded. "Got a buddy that makes the Seattle run, if he's there will put in a word for ya."

Three days later Victor stepped out of the shadows of the trucks lined up at the truck stop, blood drying on his claws and jeans. He stole a car and continued west. He drove until the blood lust hit him again. This time he picked up the hitchhiker, a young girl, not much younger than the Rogue. He lasted two days with her scent of fear filling the car before he stopped at an abandoned campground.

He left the next morning, both lusts sated, for now. The body he left was so mangled they'd never identify her. He continued on. He finally dumped the car, in a flaming wreck, ten miles from his house. He took off across country and finally slipped in the back door, his peaceful home mocking him with its emptiness. His staff would vouch that he'd been here the whole time.

He started researching her mutation, anything he could find on anything like it. He contacted a scientist who was studying 'psychic vampires' and realized he'd hit pay dirt. He paid the man's expenses, moved the lab into his basement and when the time came for human experiments, hunted down and collected subjects.

He'd found five, three female, and two of those about half as powerful as she was. The scientist found the way for him to block the pull from them, but it took almost a year for him to perfect it, and then be able to teach someone else to do it.

The females had been entertaining, especially the most powerful one, she'd managed to survive almost a year, and he hadn't been the one to kill her. He'd learned two powerful lessons from that frail. The first, that he was going to have to suppress some of his less desirable tendencies, at least at first, around his Rogue. The second, that in order to survive his offspring, he was going to have to make sure she delivered early, and by cesarean. The cub hadn't survived the birth either, and he'd left them to burn when he destroyed the lab.

The scientist had been an idiot, either that or naive, the look of shock on his face when he'd ripped the man's throat out still made him smile. He didn't want anyone else who could teach her the trick, how to control the part of her mind that sent out the electrical impulses along her nerves, particularly the ones on the surface of her skin. To change the frequency to prevent it matching the skin of the person she touched. He knew she'd never figure it out on her own. It had taken him almost two years to be able to control it for any extended period of time, and he didn't know if it would hold up under the emotional assault of claiming her as his. He'd been surprised that it had worked with her, honestly. Everything hinged on tonight. If he couldn't maintain control she'd drain him dry, and learn his trick, killing him in the process. He knew when the moment of truth came, his whole plan would either move forward, or stop dead in its tracks.

It wasn't sex he was worried about, he'd learned to control it during that, it was sleep, he'd tested it on the weaker ones, and it had worked, but she was so much stronger, even in her sleep.

He heard the sound of her climbing out of the tub, and the blow dryer turn on in the bathroom. It was almost time, time to test his control. Time to test her resolve.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N Yes a longer chapter. Sorry had to have the Lemon from Marie's POV. You'll get his later on that subject I promise.

For those who think Rogue is out of character, she's completely overwhelmed by touch, the thought of it, the feel of it. She'll get her fire back very quickly, but Victor offered her the one thing she's missed since before her mutation became active and she's thrown caution to the wind. There will be Logan confrontations much later, but for now, consider him MIA. Expect a Bobby/Kitty twist later on too.

Chapter 6

She pulled the brush through her hair, trying to hold the towel up with her arms while pointing the dryer at the right spot.

"Here's a robe." He said from the door. She jumped at the sound of his voice. She glared at him until he flashed her a grin and closed the door behind him as he left.

"The other door goes into the bedroom. You've got clothes in there." He said through the door. She waited until he moved down the hall before dropping the towel. She glared at herself in the full length mirror. She'd lost some weight, actually too much, she could count her ribs through her skin. She'd never wanted to be model thin, and with her chest she never would be, right now she thought she looked like two balloons on a stick.

She shrugged into the robe he'd left and finished drying her hair. She glanced over to the door he'd mentioned, and approached it cautiously. She didn't hear any sound from the other side so she slowly opened it.

The bedroom was huge, the king bed looked small, even with the heavy iron frame and canopy. There were two dressers, a chest of drawers and adressing table with her favorite cosmetics laid out, ready to use. She felt a cold chill down her spine. He knew too much about her.

She opened a drawer in the chest and blushed at the neatly folded boxers. She'd always figured Sabretooth went commando. She moved to one of the dressers and found the lingerie drawers full of her favorite style of panties and bras. She grabbed a pair, blushing that he actually knew something so intimate about her.

In the next row of drawers she found nightgowns and pajamas and grabbed a knee length cotton and lace gown. She quickly dressed, and then slipped the robe back on. In the other dresser the lingerie drawers were full of gloves, in every color imaginable. She almost grabbed a pair, but realized she didn't need them for once.

There were two sets of double doors along one wall and she opened the first one. It was full of clothes, dresses, pants, gowns, blouses, enough that she wouldn't have to shop for months, or do laundry for that matter.

She opened the other door and gasped. He had more clothes than he'd provided for her. Suits, sport coats, slacks, dress and casual shirts and, if her eyes didn't deceive her five tuxedos.

"Did you find everything?" He asked from the hall door. She jumped. He moved so silently.

"Yes." She answered.

"Good." He stalked across the room, backing her up against one of the open doors. He was so close that if she breathed hard she'd touch him. He leaned down, his face so close she could feel his breath as he took an long deep one. "You smell so good, Marie." He whispered.

She looked at him, not pulling back, and not reaching for him, waiting for him to make a move. He grinned, and ruffled her freshly dried hair. "Nice, Kid. Can't hide the fear from me, but you don't give in to it. Good start.". He said the last as he lunged at her, capturing her mouth with his. His hands gripped her waist, pulling her against him as his tongue plundered her mouth. She moaned as her first real kiss overwhelmed her senses. She could taste the whiskey on his tongue and lips, she could feel his hard body pressing her back into the wood of the door, and his hands untie the robe, sliding under to caress her skin through the gown.

He lifted his lips from hers, and she realized her arms were around his neck, and one leg had slipped around one of his. He grinned and pulled away from her.

"Almost time for the financial report." He grinned and gently pulled her arms from around his neck. "We'll finish this later"

She watched his retreating back and let out a disgusted snort. She wasn't sure exactly who she was disgusted with. She glanced around the room and saw her bag near the door. She opened it and pulled a cigar box out of the top.

Inside were photos of her and Bobby, her and Kitty and Jubilee, and a few rare photos of Logan. She wiped a tear from her eye. That was the past, and they weren't going to come swooping in to save her from herself again. She closed the box and put it in one of the night stand drawers. If she was going to live here, she was going to have some of her own things. She finished unpacking, mostly pictures and small things that her friends had given her. She pulled out a bear Kitty had given her and set it on the bed. It looked silly laying there on the black comforter and burgundy pillows but at least, if she was going to be here for a year, it had a touch of her.

She walked quietly down the hall. He was sitting on the couch, the television on low, but he turned it up as she walked in. She started to sit on the other sofa, but a growl so low she could feel it through the floor directed her to sit next to him. His arm was along the back of the couch and she sat lightly, not sure what he expected her to do. His arm slipped down around her shoulders and pulled her up against his side. Her head rested on his chest and she actually felt comfortable against him.

"That's better." He made a low rumbling sound. She wiggled a little to get really comfortable and tucked her legs under her, leaning on his side, her head tucked under his chin. He made that rumbling sound again and she realized he was purring. She giggled.

"Not funny, Kid." He growled, but then she felt him chuckle, and purr again. She turned her head so she could see the television. The news was on, something about a major accident in California, at the Stark Expo. Didn't he want her to get close to Tony Stark's assistant?

She watched as Stark and a beautiful red head that would have put Jean to shame were interviewed by the press.

"I am resigning my position as CEO of Stark Industries back to Mr. Stark. I will stay on as Mr. Stark's personal assistant." The woman was saying to the press. Stark stepped in and took center stage, but Marie concentrated on the woman in the background now. She appeared flushed, and Marie would bet a million dollars that she'd just kissed Stark. There was definitely more to that relationship than just boss and assistant.

"So that's Pepper?" She said softly.

"Yep." His hand rested on her lower back, rubbing lazy circles through the robe and gown. "You'll meet them in person on Saturday, if Tony shows at the party. He's bad about saying he'll be someplace and then changing his mind." He chuckled.

"You like him?"

"As much as I can 'like' anyone, I guess. I've gotten him out of a few scrapes, he's put me into more than a few. When we fight we fight, but we both know we'll see each other in suits and ties later so we try to keep it civil."

"Fight?"

"He's Iron Man, remember?"

"Oh yeah...we never dealt with that much at the mansion. We were kinda busy with your boss." She quipped.

"Boss...nope not any more, hell at the time I only followed him because I needed someone to hold the leash." He picked up her hand from where it rested on his chest. "If these hands have the leash, I don't think the animal will go very far."

"Animal?" She looked up at him. His eyes were black, like she remembered from the statue. He leaned down and captured her mouth again.

"Right now, my animal wants his mate, but I'm not gonna let him loose, until I'm sure you can handle it, and tonight you're too tired, so you're gonna have to deal with the man first." His hand slipped under the robe, stroking her side through the thin gown. His eyes faded to a steel grey blue and she brushed her fingers down his cheek.

"I can catch the financials tomorrow." He whispered, his voice strained, and he stood up, pulling her up, and into his arms. He carried her down the hall, and she felt that cold chill down her spine again. "I won't hurt you, Marie, but I'm not going to hold back much longer. I need you, I want you, I have for years. Tonight, you are mine, you agreed."

He pushed the door open and crossed the room and dropped her on the bed. She bounced once, and he was on top of her, the robe opened before she could even think a protest much less speak one. She tried to sit up, to take the robe off but he growled low, his lips on hers as he pulled her gown up. The feel of his hands on her skin, his claws tracing across her outer thighs made her jump, and he growled again.

"Marie, I'm tryin ta be good." His voice was thick and she could feel the tension in him.

"Ah just don't..." She started but his lips silenced her as she felt his hands ball into the fabric of her gown and rip it down the middle. She whimpered a little as a claw scraped her skin, and he growled lower, vibrating through her body. His mouth trailed down her neck, before finding the scrape, licking the blood up gently while her body trembled beneath him. He looked up at her, and her eyes were a mix of the black and grey and she knew he was struggling for control. She brushed his cheek with her fingers, and he stroked against her hand until his cheek was stroking her palm.

"Marie, I promise, I won't hurt you." He whispered as he raised himself off of her. She blushed as he looked down at her exposed body, covered only in the tatters of her gown and the small wisp of fabric at her groin. The robe was splayed around her and she watched as he slowly unbuttoned his shirt, his claws fumbling until he finally ripped it open and off his body. She gasped, but not in fear. His chest was gorgeous, muscle under rippling skin as he moved, lean and solid. He was more careful with his belt and pants, finally slipping them down, only a pair of dark silk boxers covering his golden skin. She sat up, and this time he let her. She dropped the robe off her shoulders and down her arms, the tatters of the gown following.

She wasn't pleased with her body, but the look in his eyes made her not care that she felt too skinny and boney and un-attractive. He stalked her as she inched herself back to the pillows, before covering her body with his again. She reached out to touch him and he grabbed her wrist, and pinned it over her head.

"Not tonight." He growled as his cheek rubbed against her chest, the stubble of his chin scratching her gently, making her moan and move her hips under him. He moaned this time, one hand on her hip, the claw of his forefinger slipping under the outer thigh band of her panties. "You can explore and play all you want another time. You're too tired for much tonight, and I want you." She could hear the raw need in his voice.

She felt the band at her thigh lift, and then release against his claw, cut clean through. She had a sudden insight into why there were three drawers of underwear in the dresser...those might not even last the week. His lips came down on hers as she felt the other leg release and he pulled the strip of fabric from her body. He eased one knee between her thighs and she moaned at the brief cool breeze at her core before she was covered by his body, the only thing between them was the silk of his boxers. She moaned and her hips bucked against him again. This time he grinned and reached between them, and she felt him probing against her. She whimpered against his lips as he kissed her again, and thrust deep into her body. Her whimper turned into a cry of pain and he stilled himself.

"I can't give you much time..." He growled as she tried to move, tried to ease the pain of him inside her. "and if you keep moving like that I'm not responsible." The pain eased as she moved a little, a slow warmth spreading, and then suddenly he was moving. It didn't hurt as much as she thought it would, and it actually felt good. She'd managed to teach herself how to climax and could feel it building, stronger than anything she'd felt before. Just as she was nearing her breaking point he grunted and stilled inside her, his cock throbbing as he spewed deep inside her. She moaned a little, but he just pulled his face up from her neck and grinned. "Ain't done yet."

She felt him start to move again, and her body responding to him. She felt like she was going to explode and then she did. She could hear her voice, his loud roar against her neck but she had no idea what she'd voiced. She felt him pull away from her, and then pull her up close against his side. She rolled slightly and rested her head on his chest, her panting breath in time with his beating heart.

"Thought I'd have to wait for that." He chuckled.

"What?" She asked, fingers playing with the hair on his chest.

"You to scream my name." She blushed.


	7. Chapter 7

He opened his eyes slowly. He was relaxed, no tension in his body. He could feel her naked one pressed against the front of his, his arm draped over her waist. He let himself let out a small sigh of relief. He'd made it through the night, and even slept a few hours, more than his usual nightmare ridden nights. He'd discovered with the test subjects he slept better if he had a warm body around. Of course he'd discovered the consequences too, after he'd killed the first female in a nightmare. He slipped out from under the covers and grabbed a pair of sweats from a drawer in the chest and padded softly out of the room.

He opened the fridge and grabbed the milk carton, and lifted the opening to his mouth.

"Eeewwww use a glass." He jumped. He hadn't heard her walk into the kitchen.

"Its my house." He growled.

"Yeah and Ah have ta live here too." He glared at her, but opened the cabinet and pulled down a glass and filled it with the last of the milk. He looked over at her. She was wearing his ripped shirt from last night.

"Ooops. Hope you didn't want any of that." He growled and had to hide his smile at her indignant huff.

"Jerk!" He did laugh then

"What're ya cookin for breakfast, Woman?" He asked after he drained the glass in front of her and tossed it in the sink.

"Its your house, and rinse that before it starts ta stink." She snapped back. He was enjoying her indignation.

"Dishes are Women's work.". He growled and headed to the living room. "So's cookin, I like my eggs over easy."

He grabbed the remote and hit the button to start the recorded financial report from last night. He could hear her muttering in the kitchen "surprised he don't like 'em raw.". He chuckled.

This was part of his plan, he wanted her comfortable, able to mouth off at him without showing fear. He was in this for the long haul, and she was going to be a handful the rest of his life, because he intended to keep her that long.

He frowned at the report on Stark stocks. The Expo fiasco really cut into profits, not that they wouldn't recover. Pepper resigning last night had helped his bargaining position but she still had a lot of influence over Tony. Hell if Stark would just fuck the woman it would help, but it was like she was the only woman his charm didn't work on.

He heard silverware jingling in the kitchen and went to see what she'd cooked. He laughed out loud at her sitting there, shirt sleeves rolled up, calmly eating a bowl of hot cereal he didn't even know he owned, the eggs, bacon and bread sitting on the counter.

"Cook your own breakfast, haven't you heard of women's lib?" She dropped her bowl in the sink and walked past him. "You said girlfriend, not slave. Oh, and last one ta cook has dishes." He chuckled. She had guts, but he knew that. He grinned while he cooked his eggs and bacon. The morning couldn't have gone better if he'd planned it.

Her guts were so important to everything. She was going to need them to navigate the world he was going to thrust her into, and to deal with him, and any future offspring. He liked his frails timid, scared and quickly dead, but she was the woman he'd picked, and she had to be able to stand up and tell him no, not that he'd take the no as an answer, but she had to have the spirit to try.

He heard her in the bedroom, and then opening doors down the hallway. Only one was locked and she wasn't going to be allowed in that room, hell he didn't even go in there anymore. If James wanted his shit, he'd have to come get it. He heard the treadmill in the exercise room turn on and nodded. She was trained to fight, he couldn't allow her to get soft, and was glad she seemed to feel the same. He finished his breakfast, and scraped all the dishes in the sink and stacked them in the washer. The cleaning crew would take care of the rest when they showed up this afternoon.

He walked back to the exercise room and stood in the door watching her. She was running on the treadmill, earbuds in her ears listening to, of all things ACDC. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and the exercise outfit fit her like a glove. He just leaned on the door frame and watched.

She slowed the machine down to a cool down walk and took the plastic out of her ears. "So got any plans for today?" She asked. He jumped, how did she know he was there.

"Not really. Taking the day off."

"Day off? What do you normally do?" She asked as the machine slowed down.

"Go down to the office, handle paperwork, negotiate deals with corporations for our employee benefits programs we administer, well the larger corporations, I have staff that handles the smaller ones. We administer six different options on 401(k) retirement plans a series of individual retirement option IRA and Roth programs as well as straight investment accounts and investment funds."

"Wow." She stepped off the machine and wiped her face with the towel.

"Yeah...I only kill people for fun." He said, she actually laughed, and didn't seem scared.

"Fun?" She asked as she walked up to him at the door.

"Okay, not so much fun as a challenge. I've got a handler, and only take the hits that interest me, usually for the challenge, but sometimes just because the bastard needs to die."

"Assassinations then?"

"Usually." She was standing in front of him. She should be scared out of her wits at this point, but seemed calm, he couldn't smell fear anywhere in the room.

"Well as long as they deserve it, Ah guess you're serving a purpose." She shrugged. He reached out and pulled her close against him.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Ah mean Ah've read your file at Xavier's, so I know a lot of it, well the bad shit anyway. The other stuff is kinda cool. Boring but cool." She grinned up at him.

"Boring...I'll show you boring." He grinned and leaned down and picked her up over his shoulder. He carried her down the hall to the bedroom and straight to the bed and dumped her in the middle.

"Do NOT shred mah clothes." She screamed.

"Why not, I bought them?" He reached for the exercise top.

"No you didn't, these were out of my bag." She said.

"Then get them the fuck off." He growled playfully.

"One more question." She said putting her hand against his bare chest.

"WHAT?"

"You do know Ah have a lot of Logan in my head, and absorbed some of his abilities, a lot, and for a long time. Ah still have his senses. The healin' is the only thing that went away. Ah also have his memories, just the last twenty years or so, but Ah've got his instincts, too."

He pulled back.

"No, I didn't know that."

"Well, that just means Ah have a little more edge over you...so remember it." She grinned as her fingers started to play with the hair on his chest. "Ah also got somethin' else from him, and Ah'm just startin to figure that part out."

"What's that?"

"His libido." She grinned as she pulled the top off over her head. He growled appreciatively. She raised her hips and slipped the exercise shorts down and he grabbed them gently and pulled them off her legs. He just stared at her a moment. She wasn't afraid...actually was damned aroused at the moment and from what she'd just said was ready to go the distance. He just had one question.

"How'd you get that?"

"At the top of the statue...Ah died, but my skin absorbed him, Ah almost killed him, would have if Ah hadn't pulled back in time. The Professor said it was long enough to change my DNA slightly to take on certain characteristics permanently. The healing factor was the only one that Ah didn't get grafted onto my DNA."

He sat there staring at her naked body, that explained her being able to move quietly, her knowing he'd been at the exercise room door, even her complaint about rinsing the milk before it began to stink.

"So have you learned to use them yet?" He grinned.

"A little. Right now, you smell fantastic." She grinned.

"Little Roguie, so do you." He stretched is body like a cat, covering hers completely as he leaned down and licked her lips. "You smell good enough to eat."

"Never tried that." She grinned and he took the challenge.


	8. Chapter 8

She stretched lengthwise in the bed. They'd spent his day off there and she felt him stir next to her. Her body was sore, but no major damage and she decided if a marathon with him was going to be this easy she could handle it.

He growled slightly in his sleep and she rolled onto her side to look at him. Sleeping she could see the resemblance between the brothers and she smiled. Putting up with Logan's moodiness for the last three years seemed to be good training for Victor. She leaned her head on her hand, propped up on her elbow, the sheet draped around her waist.

"You gonna watch me all night, or are ya gonna do something after that stretch." He growled low.

"Ah kinda like watchin ya. You're kind a cute when you're asleep. Does make me wonder if you'd purr if Ah rubbed your belly.". She grinned.

He looked over at her, a look she was starting to recognize as dangerously playful in his eyes. "Try it and find out."

She laughed. "Then it wouldn't be a surprise." She did trail her fingers across his bare chest, and slowly down his stomach.

"You like to live dangerously.". He started to purr when a loud gurgling sound vibrated up her arm. She threw her head back and laughed until she heard her own stomach rumble.

"Ah'd say food first, before any more fun."

"Fun? You are having fun?". His eyes were hooded, hidden from her as he sat up.

"Yes. Ah know, its kinda surprised me too, ah guess the whole idea of not havin ta worry about my skin has made today like a holiday or somethin. Ah know the real world is out there but today it hasn't mattered."

"Get dressed, and don't forget gloves. We're goin out." He gave her a toothy grin.

She felt a slight surge of panic. She didn't want to go out. Didn't want to face the world again. Why couldn't they just eat here.

"Move Woman!". He roared at her.

She climbed slowly out of the bed and dragged her feet to the closet. He snarled and yanked open the doors. He reached in and grabbed a short black dress and conservative black pumps and threw them at her. "I'm hungry."

Her hands shook as she tried to open the drawers in the dresser. He just growled and dressed himself. She was sitting on the bed pulling on a pair of textured tights she'd found in the drawers. He looked over his shoulder at her with a smoldering look that made her want to forget dinner. "Hurry up." He grinned at her. She couldn't help smiling back, but she had a sneaking suspicion he was up to something.

She slipped the dress over her head and he practically danced across the room like a cat on cat nip to zip it up for her. She pulled a box out of the nightstand and he frowned as she put a string of jade beads Logan had given her around her neck. She grabbed a jade green scarf and gloves to complete the outfit. He nodded approval and opened the bedroom door.

She followed him out the front door of the penthouse and he locked the door behind them.

"Remind me to get you a set of keys made.". He said as they walked to the elevator. She was nervous about being in public with him but she was covered so it should be okay. The elevator opened on the first floor of the building and they stepped out into a crowded Friday afternoon lobby.

"Evening, Mr. Creed.". Several people said as they passed by. Several women shot daggers at her with their eyes. Victor put a possessive arm around her waist as he guided her to the front doors.

There was a like of cabs sitting outside the building and they filled up quickly as they walked across the outer lobby of the building. He opened a cab door and waited for her to get in, then walked around and got in the other side.

"Good evening, Mr. Creed. Where to?". The cabby asked.

" The new place on 57th street. This is Marie."

"Evening Miss.". He smiled at her in the rear view mirror and gave her a once over before grinning at Victor. "Will you need a pick up later?"

"Depends...I'll call dispatch if we do, Frank."

"You own the cab company, too?". She asked.

"No, just a contract, its safer to have them on call for employees than having the congestion when people get off work."

Wow, working for him must be nice. She was going to have to consider her options after the year was up. They didn't say anything in the cab, but she noticed his eyes kept darting everywhere and the arm under her hand was tense. The cab pulled up in front of an upscale restaurant and she recognized the place. Jubilee had been trying to get reservations for the three of them since the place opened. Kitty and Jubes would be green that she was having dinner here on the spur of the moment.

He opened the door of the restaurant and walked right past the line and the hostess who was trying to seat other guests. A man walked up and grinned at Victor.

"About time you took me up on my offer, Vic. Your table is right this way.". He led them to a table with a reserved sign on it. The table was right in the middle of the picture window looking out on the New Yorkpedestrian traffic. She sat down as he held out the chair for her and tried to hide her nerves.

"It's okay, Marie. Its just dinner.". He chuckled as he sat down across from her. She had Logan's senses b ut not his control and this was overwhelming. She hoped she didn't try to pop the other inheritance from Logan. The claws stayed in her arms, without the healing factor she'd nearly bled to death the first time they'd come out.

She glanced around the place and recognized several people either from television or movies. Victor had to grab her gloved hand to remind her to stop gaping like a fish as her favorite singer came in the door.

"Damn, Kidd Rock is here!". She gasped quietly.

Victor just grinned. The waiter came to their table and Victor ordered drinks and appetizers. She kept craning her neck to see who was there, and she felt him grip her hand again a split second after her sharp intake of breath.

"Damn him!" She hissed.

"Who?"

"Bobby.

Victor looked around and chuckled when he saw Bobby with some red head that definitely wasn't Kitty. Marie watched as the jerk kissed the red head on the cheek. Just then another guy walked up to them and Victor growled.

"What?"

"Parker." He snarled, his hand on her tightening, she winced from the pain as Kitty came running in the door, out of breath, Jubilee in toe. The other guy kissed Kitty, which made Marie glare even harder.

"And I was hoping for a quiet dinner." She heard Victor mutter under his breath.

"What am Ah gonna tell them?". She could feel herself panicking.

"What do you mean 'what are you gonna tell them?'?" He growled at her.

"They're gonna see us. We need ta make sure our story is straight.". She could see his eyes were pitch black, but she was to locked in her own panic to recognize the warning sign.

"You agreed to this." He snarled low.

"Ah KNOW that, but Ah cain't just tell them we hooked up in a cure line."

"I don't give a shit what you tell them but it better be believable." She looked over at him and realized how angry he was.

"Victor, it ain't you. Ah just...they don't know why Ah left. Bein with you ain't the problem, its not bein with them." She out her other hand over his on the table. He snarled and started to pull away when Jubilee bounced over to the table.

"Rogue! Where have you been...never mind, I can see where you've been, you go Chica." Marie blushed. "So who's your new squeeze." Jubes dropped into one of the extra chairs at the table.

"Victor, this is my friend, Jubilation."

"Victor huh...certainly a victory for you, Chica, Kitty's givin Jerkwad a really hard time about you bein here without us and with him. Saw ya when we came in and you're lookin good."

"Thanks. Who's that with Bobby?" She asked.

"Oh you don't KNOW! That's Angelica...he's been seeing her for over a year...yeah I know the whole time you two were dating he was two timing. And we thought he was a jerkwad for tryin' ta kiss Kitty." Jubilee blew a huge bubble and Victor reached up, with a low growl and popped it with one claw.

Jubilee's eyes got wide as she watched the claws on his fingers grow to almost four inches. She gulped.

"So I guess the new squeeze is a mutant, huh?"

"Sabretooth." He growled low and Marie watched the blood drain from Jubilee's face.

"He won't kill you, at least not tonight, not if he wants ta get laid." She had a little growl of her own in her voice as she glared at him.

"We'll see about that." He growled back, but there was a twinkle in his eyes and they were back to slate grey.

"You're dating SABRETOOTH... Logan's gonna have a shit fit when I tell him."

"Then don't tell him, dumb ass." Marie snapped. "It's not like he won't see our pictures in the paper or something."

"Huh?"

"There's more to Vic than just 'mutants ruling the world' shit." She said. Victor glared, but leaned back, slipped his hand out from between hers and pulled his hands back to the edge of the table. He stood and held his hand out to a man approaching the table. He was an older gentleman with steel grey hair and chewing a cigar.

"Jonah." Victor greeted him.

"Victor, nice to see you out and about. You going to make the event tomorrow?" His voice boomed through the restaurant.

"Planning on it. This is Marie." He held a hand out to indicate her.

"Pleasure to meet you, young lady. 'Bout time this animal settled down with something worth looking at." She watched Victor flinch at being called an animal but he smiled and laughed and clapped the man on the back. "Are we still on for Monday, my accountants really want to look at that retirement plan you were talking about."

"Sure are Jamison. Monday at eleven, and I'm buying lunch, I insist."

"Sure sure...you can feed the accounting team too." Jamison laughed, and then stopped. "PARKER, I don't pay you enough to be able to eat at a place like this." He yelled at the young man that had kissed Kitty. Marie watched him walk off, and heaved a sigh of relief that he wasn't staying.

"OOOOOOOHHHH...Peter's busted." Jubilee grinned. Victor even chuckled. They heard a plaintive "JUBES!" from across the restaurant and she let out a huge sigh. "I somehow think dinner with you two will be more fun than dinner with the four of them. Kitty and Pete have been dating about a month and just found out Bobby had been cheating the whole time you were with him and is pissed, the only reason she came is its so damned hard to get into this place.

"Hard? We just walked in tha door." She watched Jubilee's jaw drop.

"Oh yeah, I'd really rather be here with you guys." She gave Victor a once over. "Does he have a brother."

"Yeah...but he's not your type." Victor growled.

"Oh...if he's gorgeous, dangerous, and rich he's my type." Jubilee grinned.

"Well right now he's short, poor and doesn't remember shit, so nope he's not your type." Jubilee got up and shrugged.

"Too bad, I'd treat him real good." She started to walk away and then turned back with a puzzled look. "Logan?"

Victor just glared, and put a finger with claw fully extended to his lips. She nodded slowly, and Marie had a bad feeling about this.

"Well that was unexpected." She said quietly.

"You really don't mind them knowing you're with me?" He asked, leaning back in his chair again as the waiter brought their dinner, she hadn't remembered it even being ordered.

"No. Ah just don't want them knowin' I went ta take the cure, that's all." She said as she looked at the food on her plate, trying to decide where to start first.

He reached a claw across and tilted her head up to look at him. "Good."

They finished dinner without any more interruptions and he called dispatch for a cab to pick them up before he ordered desert.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N

I-am-the-Wolf - hehe you're closer than you think, its actually an endorphine high but same general idea.

Stampeij - yeah just wait till this one.

GypsyWitchBaby - oh yes they will encounter the cheating scum known as Bobby...soon

ceilidh-kay - I knew you'd like that - there will be more Jubes and other interactions with them as they move around the city, and its not the last time you see Parker either.

Wanda W. Get on a stick you are WAY behind on your reading :P

Chapter 9

He stretched against the sheets. He was going to have to have some restraint with her, the endorphine highs were really overloading his brain, he'd felt like he was on a huge hit of cocaine or something. Most drugs he metabolized quickly, but if it was something he produced himself it took time to wear off. He'd finally come down about halfway through dinner. He didn't think she noticed, but he still needed to be careful.

He'd had a telepath once that had been able to cause the effect like last night, and he'd become addicted to it, to the point, after she died, he'd lost complete control of the animal. He looked over at her hair splayed out on the pillow. The thought of loosing her crashed down on him. Two days and he was trapped by her scent, her heartbeat her sweet breath moving in and out of her body. He knew the signs, knew what was happening, and wasn't going to fight it. He was becoming addicted again, but this time he was going to control the addiction.

He climbed out of bed and looked at the clock. Eleven-thirty, he was going to have to stop indulging her desire to sleep in if he was going to get any work done. He walked to his closet and pulled out a pair of slacks and a pull-over shirt for the morning and his second best tuxedo for tonight. He slipped the shirt over his head and opened the top drawer of his dresser and grabbed a pair of boxers. Cleaning would be here in an hour and he hated not being dressed when they came. He was putting his foot in the second leg of the boxers when he heard the ding of the elevator and he stumbled a little trying to pull them up. He quickly grabbed his pants and was stepping into those when the faint scent hit his nose, seconds before the loud crash of the front door exploding and Jimmy's roar as he walked through.

This time Victor did fall over as Marie sat up straight in bed. She was jumping out from under the covers and tripped, smacking her face against one of the iron posters just as the bedroom door burst open. She looked up and Victor winced at the huge bruise starting to spread across her face under one eye.

"Rogue, are you alright." Jimmy roared as he rushed across the room to her.

"She was fine til you burst in, Jimmy." Victor said from his spot on the floor. "Welcome home."

"Shut up you bastard. Kid you're coming with me, now." The metal claws were out and Victor knew there would be no reasoning with him until he calmed down.

"No Ah ain't." She said, standing defiantly, naked, in the middle of the bed. James did a double take. Victor just grinned at her.

"Get dressed." James roared.

"Not likely." Marie jumped down from the bed and offered Victor a hand to get up. He took it, even though he didn't need it. He knew what she was doing.

"Huh?" The confusion on Jimmy's face was priceless. Victor burst out laughing. Jimmy turned to him.

"What'd you do to her, Bub, besides the black eye?" The claws were out again and pointed at Victor.

"Trust me nothin she didn't ask for over and over." Victor draped an arm over her shoulder, skin to skin in his short sleeve shirt.

"Asked?" She looked over at him, one eyebrow cocked.

"Okay, demanded was more like it." Victor chuckled. James rushed him, pushing Marie out of the way with his sleeved arm. Victor grinned for a split second befor he realized his tuxedo was in danger of getting sliced. He was just going to let the Runt whale on him a bit until he calmed down but he was not replacing a three thousand dollar tuxedo. He grabbed the front of James' shirt and half threw him toward the door. He caught Marie's glare as she grabbed clothes as he forced the fight out of the bedroom. He managed to guide his brawling brother in front of the locked door and almost laughed as James kicked him through it. In here he didn't care what the Runt cut up. It all belonged to him anyway. James had him backed against a wall, claws buried in Victor's gut when he suddenly stopped.

"Kiko?". James shook his head.

"After all these years wipin your nose and it's that piece of tail that gets your attention. Shit!" Victor roared.

He pushed the distracted feral back, and watched him trip over his own sword stand. He watched as James' eyes darted left and right, taking in the whole room. Victor just snarled at his ruined clothes.

"When you're ready ta talk like a human being we can talk. Right now I'm gonna clean up and get some breakfast for me and my girl." Victor said as he wiped blood off on his slacks. The whole outfit was going to have to be replaced.

He walked out the door and through the shattered one of their bedroom. She was putting a clean shirt and pants on the bed. She was in her exercise clothes, as if nothing had happened.

"Hurry with your shower, Ah'm gonna work out first.". She walked over and stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. He heard a growl behind him but didn't care.

"Sure thing, am I cooking?"

"Ah figure we've got ta at least feed the bottomless pit known as Logan, so yeah." She said as she closed the door to the exercise room.

Victor pulled his clothes together and carried them carefully to the bathroom. He turned on the water and heard the treadmill start up in the room across the hall. He heard things slamming from James' room and hoped he'd get his head together enough to have a human conversation. Usually the situation was reversed, but somehow, what he'd done to learn to touch Rogue had put him in better control of the animal within him. He slipped out of the ruined clothes and under the hot water.

He rinsed off quickly, probably should have showered first anyway after last night - and yesterday afternoon and the night before, but he just liked smelling like his Marie. He climbed out and closed the stall door.

"So this whole thing is voluntary? You're not forcing her?" Jimmy was standing in the bedroom door.

"DO YOU KNOCK!" Victor roared at him.

"Its not like I've never seen it before, shit." Jimmy sat down on the bench while Victor pulled up his boxers.

"Yes, she's here voluntarily. The black eye was because she tripped getting out of bed when you came bursting in the door. Until then she didn't have a mark on her." Victor growled.

"Not a mark? You haven't marked her yet?"

"No, and I'm not gonna until she's sure she's staying for good."

"How the hell can you touch her?"

"That's for me to know - and her to find out eventually." Victor pulled the shirt on over his head and fastened his pants. "Eggs over easy?"

"You cookin?"

"Yeah."

"I'll eat out."

"Like HELL! Marie said feed you I'm gonna feed you, asshole."

"MARIE SAID!' Jimmy roared, and then doubled over laughing. "YOU doing what a woman said..."

"Fuck you." He pushed past his idiot brother and through the bedroom. "You owe me a door...two doors. And I want them fixed today. And fix your own while you're at it."

"Still the same cleaning crew?" Jimmy sat down at the bar.

"No. Got a new cleaning lady and Rose retired ten years ago. Maggie is still workin for me, and now Carol."

"Damn, last time I saw Maggie she was a kid in pig tails."

"Not anymore, which reminds me, no fucking the help." Victor snarled as he threw a skillet on the stove. "As a matter of fact, you can go back to that fancy mansion you're living in, I don't think I want you around me and Marie."

"She's my responsibility..." James started.

"And you fucked it up, and now she's MINE! Got it. My mate, like it or not, so fuck you and the horse you rode in on." Victor snarled.

"Mate?" He looked over at her standing at the hallway entrance.

"Yeah...well if ya want ta be. I mean that's what the whole year thing is for, to see if you want to stay really. I ain't gonna force you to do anything."

He was surprised by the sweet smile on her face. She walked over and slipped her arm up and around his neck. He was even more surprised by the very sweet smell of arousal coming from her and the soft brush of her lips across his.

"Over medium for me, Ah can't stand runny whites. And can ya actually cook my bacon, that stuff is raw." She brushed her fingers across his cheek. "Ah'm getting a shower."

He just nodded and turned to put her bacon back in the skillet.

"Well SHIT!" He heard Jimmy exclaim behind him.

"What?"

"She's got you on a short one."

"Like hell." Victor growled.

"Uhh huh...keep thinkin it." He heard his brother chuckle. "Just remember, if you hurt her I'll find a way to kill your ass."

"If that is the rule I shoulda killed you three years ago, you let her die, dumbass."

"Yeah and I brought her back so fuck you."

"BOYS! Ah can hear you, you know." She shouted from the bedroom. Jimmy had the grace to blush.


	10. Chapter 10

This one is a little longer, and split POV, but necessary. All the usual disclaimers, don't own them, wish I did. Next Chappy - PARTY!

Breakfast was a tortured affair of trying to talk without someone knocking the furniture to hell and back. Afterward Logan packed a few of his things to take back to the mansion with him. She watched him leave, and he looked so lost. She knew he was dazed and confused, memories washing over him without pause or concern for his mental welbeing. She wanted to run after him, beg him to stay, but somehow she knew Victor would not accept that he was just a friend.

"Ya didn't have ta make him leave." She sulked.

"He'll be fine...from the smell of things the firecracker'll help him more than anything." Victor slipped his arms around her, but she moved away. "Marie, come here." It wasn't a request.

She turned to look at him and realized his eyes were feral black.

"Ah'm allowed ta have my own friends, and be worried about them." She snapped at him. An' if you knew Jube's was with Logan last night, why'd ya tell her not ta tell him..."

"Come. Here." It was soft and low, a snarling growl that set off her sense of self preservation. She walked slowly across the room and his hand moved faster than she'd ever seen. He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her close against him. He pulled her head back, and she could feel the tendons stretching and her eyes well up from the pain.

"I don't give a shit if you give a rats ass about my idiot brother, or who he's bedding, when I tell you to come here, you do it." He snarled. "Tonight's not exactly going to be safe for either of us and I need to know you are going to listen first and argue later." She tried to nod but it hurt too much to try to move her head in his grip.

"Now to take care of that eye, I don't need the reputation of being abusive." He leaned down and kissed her and she felt his life force over power her as the bruised tissue under her eye healed. She was stunned by his surface thoughts, how protective and concerned he was for her, how tender his intentions were against the raw controlled violence of the grip in her hair. The barely contained animal surging just under the surface, wanting something from her, something she wasn't quite ready to give.

He pulled back quickly, and she just nodded.

"There all good as new." He stroked his clawed thumb over the newly healed skin. She leaned on his hand, not sure when or how she'd realized she needed his touch, not any touch, just his. She leaned against him as his fingers loosened in her hair and she slipped her arms around his waist. There was definitely more to Victor than met the eye and she wondered if she was up to the challenge of finding all the pieces to his puzzle.

"Mr. Creed?" They both turned at the sound of a woman's voice at the door.

"Carol, just a little fight with Jimmy Boy, he'll replace the doors." Victor said as he moved her to his side, facing the women in the broken doorway. "This is Marie, she's living with me."

"Living...Victor, oh I'm so pleased you're finally settling down." Carol beamed at him. She was an older woman, her blonde hair mostly grey with deep trouble and frown lines in her face. She moved slowly as the younger woman started picking up the pieces of the broken door.

"Mr. Howlett certainly had one of his temper tantrums again." Maggie said, a slight blush on her face. "Is he still here?"

"No, Magpie, he left, he's living someplace else but I have a feeling he'll be in and out a lot." The woman in her thirties blushed again and Marie smiled a little, another one of Logan's crushes still carrying a torch

"We're gonna leave and get out of your way." Victor said nudging Marie toward the open doorway. "Carol, you send me those bills we were talking about, you don't need to worry about anything right now except getting better."

"I doubt I'll get better, Victor, but thank you again." The older woman said as she swept up splinters of wood in the entry. "The doctor doesn't see any improvement, even after six months of treatment."

"Then we'll get you another doctor." Victor said firmly as the elevator door opened. "We'll beat this Carol, I promise."

"Thank you for the hope, Victor." Carol said as the door slid closed.

"So where're we going?" Marie asked.

Victor grinned. "Central Park."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They climbed into a cab and he gave directions to the Central Park Zoo. He loved being able to sit quietly among the animals, watching people go by, listening to the unspoken language the animals gave off with their scent. It was like a second language and sometimes could be more amusing than listening to humans prattle on all day. His favorite spot was near the large cats, he felt more at home among other predators than surrounded by prey that had him ready to hunt.

She was quiet in the cab. He worried that maybe she'd picked up too much with the brief contact to heal her eye. He wasn't going to let her go, not now, not ever. She was his, she was just going to have to get used to the idea.

"Has Logan always been lonely?" She asked finally. He almost growled. She'd been thinking about his idiot brother, not about him.

"No, he's actually the more sociable of us." He growled. "Been married at least three times that I know of, maybe more."

"Married? LOGAN!" She looked at him in shock.

"Yeah. As I said, he's the more sociable of us."

"So you've never been married?" Sometimes trying to follow how her mind worked was confusing, how'd they end up talking about him.

"No, lived with a woman for a few years, about a decade back. Never really had much use for females except for fuckin and killin, till now." He growled.

"Victor!" She was actually laughing, catching his subtle dig at himself, which surprised him. She understood his humor. "Seriously."

"Okay, there was a woman when I was young, a farmer's widow that Jimmy and I lived with for a while, she taught me what life was about. I've had a few lovers, not just victims, over the years. I have one son, a piece of shit, but he's got my name so I claim him even if he won't claim me. You know his mother too, Mystique."

"You and BLUEBUTT!"

"She wasn't herself, well she was, but I didn't meet her in her regular form. She was disguised as a double agent in Germany just after World War II. I was her contact, and things got - well interesting. She got pregnant, said she'd take care of it, then left the kid at an orphanage with my name as the father on the birth certificate when she found out it was human."

"Somehow Ah really don't like her." Marie said softly. He wanted to laugh, but she wasn't ready for that harsh truth, not yet. He'd wait a few years, and a few cubs, before he told her he'd had a son with her own mother.

"Not many people do, mutants either for that matter. She's a cold, heartless, calculating bitch, and that's on a good day." He said instead.

"Glad Ah aint the only one that thinks so." She said as the cab pulled to a stop.

"Be back in two hours." He told the cabbie as he opened the door.

They walked quietly to the Zoo entrance and he paid their admission. He heard cameras snapping behind him and knew their pictures would be in tonight's paper, probably with the headline "Creed's Mystery Girl." Well the mystery would be solved tonight, and hopefully put to rest.

They walked slowly through the early Saturday afternoon crowds and found a spot near the tiger pens to just sit. He thought it might be a good day to teach her the finer points of that sense of smell she'd inherited.

"Why're we here?"

"I like to listen to the animals talk." He said.

"Animals don't talk."

"Close your eyes. Filter out all the smells you know, and then tell me what you can pick up from the tigers." He said softly. He watched her eyes close and nose twitch. He closed his eyes and did the same. The female tiger was in heat, the male in the pen next to her was pacing, putting off rutting pheromones, but she was ignoring him. Her attention was on the older male across from her. That was her mate, the one she wanted to sire her cubs, not the young upstart next door. He could smell the second female, her heat just ended, belly full of growing cubs contentedly munching on a piece of meat the keepers had left her. Under the soap opera of mating season he could smell their restlessness, their longing for open spaces to roam, their stale need to hunt stunted by years of captivity. At times he wanted to rip the cages open and let them free, other times he felt the same way they did, stunted, unable to reach his potential while caged by humanity's stupidity.

"The female closest is in heat and wants the male across, the male next to her wants her but she doesn't want anything to do with him. The other female is pregnant." She whispered as her nose picked up the scents.

"Good, little grasshopper." He laughed. He didn't expect her to pick up the subtle under scents, not yet.

"Is this how you learned to use it?"

"No, I learned in the wild, had to learn to use it to hunt and kill to survive, how an animal uses it." he didn't try to hide the pain in his voice, not from her. He was going to have to open up to her, have to show her vulnerabilities, to earn her trust - and his place as her mate. He felt a little like the young tiger, trying to prove himself to her and not sure she'd chosen him.

"That had ta be lonely, although Ah understand now what you mean about listening to them talk...at least ya had that for company."

"And Jimmy, I had to provide for him too, he was just a kid, and we were alone."

"Do you really hate him?" She asked quietly as she shifted on the retaining wall they were sitting on, her head suddenly resting in his lap. He leaned back, his hands on the ground behind him, trying to avoid the temptation of stroking her hair.

"No...Yes...No. It's complicated."

She laughed. "That's family Ah suppose."

"You suppose?"

"Well Ah was an only child, didn't have any siblings ta play with, or fight with, and mah parents, well they were the religious type, church every Sunday, no loud voices. Mah momma raised me how she thought a good Southern Lady should be. 'Keep your voice down, Marie, no one likes a loud girl. Keep your eyes down, Marie, men don't like a girl who's too fresh. You can't go there, that girl's parents aren't married and are livin' in sin."

He chuckled at her imitation of her mother. "Guess we're livin in sin, huh?"

"Yep, and after what they did when mah mutation started, Ah hope they choke on it." She hissed with venom. That's when he realized that she understood exactly how he felt about his brother. She loved them, her parents, but hated them too. He didn't think she had it in her to hate, but maybe he was wrong.

"What'd they do?"

"Nothin...actually. They didn't speak to me, they didn't look at me. One day Ah came home from a walk, Ah couldn't go back to school because of mah skin so Ah mostly walked the woods durin the day. Ah came home and the back door was locked, all mah things were packed in my daddy's old duffle bag, there was an envelope with five hundred dollars in it, and that was it. No note, no explanation, just all mah things on the back porch and an envelope with money." His claws dug into the grass behind him. He wanted to rip them to shreds. He knew, of course what happened but hearing her tell it, watching the tears slide silently from her eyes, he wanted to rip them apart.

"As soon as Ah could I got rid of that old bag...bought a new one so I didn't have anything left that belonged to them, and took off. In the bottom of the bag was mah old map, with the route to Anchorage in it and Ah just started following it, Ah didn't know where else ta go. Ah met some good people, but mostly just people that didn't care one way or the other. Ah even met a few sleeze balls, but Ah either got away, or added a new headache to the ones already inside mah head."

"You were protecting yourself." He said softly, one hand leaving the grass to stroke her hair. He hadn't expected her to open up like this.

"Yeah, but Ah hated that Ah killed them." She whispered. That he didn't know either. He thought she'd only ever touched people, not killed them. He didn't know she'd come that far into his world.

"Self defense is self defense, you did what you had to do."

"Ah threw up the first time, he was still ragin at me in mah head while Ah heaved all over his dead body. Ah could still feel his hands on me for days, rippin at mah clothes. Ah don't know if he was ever missed, but Ah ran. The second time Ah was just too hungry ta care that the guy was creepy. Ah was campin in that woods and he offered me food. After Ah ate he demanded Ah give in to him. He hit me, had me pinned on mah stomach, a knife ta mah throat, when he wasn't usin it ta cut mah clothes off. Ah left him in the woods for the animals to get. After that, Ah avoided people that gave me the creeps. The third seemed like a nice guy, him and his wife, but they weren't. They offered ta let me sleep in a barn on their place, offered me food. They drugged it. Ah didn't even know Ah'd killed them till Ah woke up naked and both of them were in mah head." He gagged a little on that one. "Ah went to the cops on that one. They had eight girls buried in that barn, then Ah ran again."

He'd been worried about her being able to accept the darkness inside him, now he realized she had more than enough of her own.

"You call yourself Rogue for a reason." He stated softly.

"Yeah." He looked at his watch. They were going to have to hurry to catch the cab back to the apartment, and they still hadn't had lunch.

"Why don't we grab a pizza on the way back, we can eat then get ready for tonight." He said as he pushed against her head to get her to move. She jumped and sat up, straightening her hair, and he stood and pulled her close. "No one is ever going to hurt you like that again, Marie. No matter what happens...I WILL protect you." He looked into her eyes as he made the promise. She was his, he wouldn't ever let anyone hurt her, not what belonged to him. He leaned down and kissed her, hard, he tasted blood on her lips and growled.

"Pizza first, Ahm starved." He pulled back as she whispered it against his lips. "Then we might have time." Her hips ground against his, and he realized she was molded to his body like a second skin.

"Then move it, Woman." He growled, his body cold for a second as she pulled away. She laughed a little and moved in front of him and he watched her walk away, her ass swaying in the skin tight jeans. He wasn't sure he was going to make it back to the apartment with out taking her, much less get and eat pizza, but if she made the torture worthwhile later, he'd try.


	11. Chapter 11

For those confused - Rogue is Mystique's daughter in this one, The adopted family are the religious ones in Mississippi.

Just the usual - don't own them, wish I did, but I don't therefore I have to work for a living. If anyone at Marvel is listening, that's an unashamed plug for a job.

She leaned back in the tub. She had about an hour before he wanted to leave for the party and wanted to soak some of the kinks out, both mentally and physically. She'd never eaten pizza in bed before and certainly not in her wildest dreams would she ever look at the innocent italian pie the same way again. She ducked her head under the water and laughed when she came back up.

"What's so funny?" He growled from the bedroom.

"Ah had onion in my hair.". She giggled again. She heard him snort in the bedroom.

"You don't want to know where I found pepperoni in the shower.". She smiled wickedly, she could easily imagine.

"You getting out any time soon? Less than an hour."

"Hold your horses." She said as she stood in the water. She climbed out of the giant tub and wrapped a robe around her body. She was glad the dress she was wearing was rather demure in the front, she had scratches across her chest. "You know, we're going to have to file those things down or Ah'm going to have to wear turtlenecks all the time."

He was standing at his dresser tying his bow tie. He looked at her in the mirror. "I'll try to be more careful when we're going out." He growled and frowned.

She sat at the dressing table and dried her hair. She could see him moving around the bedroom when it hit her. He was the closest she'd ever had to a normal relationship, and for all his bluster at times, she was completely comfortable around him. Something inside her trusted him more than anyone else in her life. She grinned at herself in the mirror, she wasn't going to let him in on this little secret just yet.

She walked into the bedroom just as he slid the jacket on and stopped. "Wow, you clean up nice." She grinned.

He leered at her "You'd better get dressed or we're gonna miss this damned thing." She winked at him and blew him a kiss.

"It's your dinner." She said as she picked up the lingerie she'd laid on the bed. She opened the robe and slipped it off her shoulders and onto the bed. He let out a groan.

"You've got ten minutes." He walked out the still broken door and she heard him muttering "...need this deal with Stark, I'd just haul her off to a cave somewhere." She giggled and he shouted "NINE minutes."

She quickly scrambled into her outfit, a simple dark blue, almost black velvet sheath that had a small drape at her throat and a deep drape in the back, leaving a very dangerous expanse of skin bare, but she was covering that with a lighter blue shawl. She was fastening the buckle on her shoe when he walked back into the room.

"...better be..." He stopped dead as she stood up. "Wow."

"Wow, that's all you can say?"

"Stark better appreciate the sacrifice I'm making for him. Gonna be a long...hard" he walked across the floor as he said it, pulling her against him and grinding against her to show just how hard it was going to be "...night." He put a claw under her chin and she looked up at him.

"Something's missing."

"What?" She looked at herself in the full length mirror. She looked stunning. She couldn't remember ever feeling as beautiful as she felt at that moment.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a long chain with yellow beads around it every few inches. She'd never seen beads that sparkled like that. He draped the chain over her head, the bottom bead hung right between her breasts on the velvet of the gown. She was wearing her hair loose, but he handed her a pair of matching earrings as well.

"Put those on in the car, the limo's waiting." She grabbed the small clutch bag and opera gloves that matched the shawl and followed him out of the door and down the hall, slipping the earrings in as she walked.

She managed the second earring in the elevator down, and he took her hand into the crook of his elbow.

"Ah still need mah gloves."

"In the car, you won't touch anyone between now and then." He rushed her across the lobby of the building. Outside a long black limousine was waiting. She climbed in and he followed. The driver pulled away from the curb and down the street.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He watched her pull on the gloves. The yellow diamonds looked good on her and he was glad he special ordered them. Of course it took about a dozen diamond cutters to understand he wanted them as beads...they were so damned picky about how they cut diamonds, and it took months to find one that understood that they weren't going to talk him out of drilling a hole in the middle of a diamond, much less a yellow diamond, much less a natural yellow diamond, and the poor man had nearly fainted when he produced them, uncut, and said he wanted them all done that way, all seven of them, five for the necklace and two for the earrings. The poor man cried the whole time he cut them, but by the time he was done, they were perfect, faceted on the outside and all down the inner hole so they'd sparkle with a life of their own.

They were going to be fashionably late for the dinner but that was to be expected. He wanted to walk down that red carpet with her on his arm, and all the press and paparazzi snapping their pictures. This was her debut, and he wanted her to shine.

He leaned back in the leather seat of the limo and stretched his legs. Maybe next week he'd take her to the Met...he'd have to see what was playing, he couldn't stand any of the modern operettas, but if the Barber was playing he'd definitely use his box seats next week.

She'd surprised him at the Zoo today, and he wasn't used to surprises. It surprised him that she'd trusted him with information that he could use against her, she'd put her very life in his hands, in more ways than one. One phone call and she'd be on her way to a mutant prison, maybe side by side with her cured mother, Mystique. He was going to have to tell her, she seemed like she didn't even know about the adoption, and if not, it would be a huge shock. He decided to save that tidbit again, they'd have a fight someday when he'd need the ammunition and he wasn't going to waste it now.

"You're quiet?" She said as she finished buttoning the second glove.

"Thinkin' about what I'm gonna have to say to Tony tonight." He said.

"This contract is that important to you?" She asked.

"Yes - well to the company. Signing Stark Industries will make us the top provider of retirement programs for military research and development companies. That is a good position to be in if you want to start bidding for contracts for federal retirement options."

"You're tryin' ta get the federal government ta buy your retirement platforms?"

"Eventually...right now its about Stark."

She shook her head. He'd educate her about the finer points of playing politics and having the advantage over even lobbyists. Control the money and you control the world. Right now he could turn three different defense contractor lobbyists for or against any bill or program he wanted, simply by controlling the asset distribution to their accounts, or changing the investment portfolios so that they didn't perform as well, and all legally and above board. He had to smile, he'd never done anything illegal with Creed Industries, and didn't plan on starting now, but he had his agenda, just like everyone else...and most people thought he was a dumb animal.

Their limo pulled up to the carpet and an usher opened the door. He stepped out and adjusted his cufflinks as the cameras started snapping. He held his hand out and helped her from the car, and the press went nuts.

"Mr. Creed, who's your date? How long have you known each other? Is it true you're living together?

He smiled at Marie. "Ready to face the wolves."

"Ready as Ah'll ever be." She took his proffered arm and walked up the red carpet with a grace he'd known she would have. He smiled and waved to the cameras, and as they entered the building he heard the cameras going nuts again.

"Mr. Stark, is it true that you are now CEO of Stark Industries again? Ms. Potts, are you and Mr. Stark dating? Is the rumor true that you will be retiring as Iron Man?"

He chuckled, not in a million years would Tony resign. He lead Marie into the large room filled with tables and a long platform with a podium in the middle. The banner across the top simply stated American Red Cross Humanitarian of the Year Banquet. Victor lead her to their table, and was glad to see that Tony and Pepper had been assigned the same table. He wasn't pleased to see three X-Men, dressed in formal attire at the next table.

"Hey Rogue."

"Psstt"

"Rogue."

She was doing her best to ignore the ice prick. She really was. He just hoped she'd hold her composure. It was too much to ask.

"Excuse me Victor, Ah need to handle somethin'." She said softly as she walked over to the other table. "Hey Jubes, Kitty Ah wasn't expectin ta see you here."

"Professor Xavier's nominated for the award and we got to come as his body guards." Kitty said, puffing up a little as if it mattered if the old man was guarded or not.

"Too bad you're workin'." She smiled and walked back over to him. "Jube's you're welcome ta join us if the Professor doesn't mind. Ah think we might have room." She stood next to Victor. Victor let out a warning growl as Drake walked over.

"Rogue, we need to talk." He said, loudly.

"Ah have nothin ta say ta you Bobby Drake. Now if ya don't leave, Ah'm gonna call security and have ya escorted out." Victor grinned at the poor kid. He wasn't going to have to do a thing, and from the fear in Drake's scent as he widened his grin, he doubted there would be any trouble tonight.

"VICTOR!" He turned and Tony walked up and grabbed his hand. "Tell me you brought something to drink...I hear there's only tea and water and I'll die if I have to sit through this thing sober."

"I got ya covered." Victor said in a low voice. He turned and held out Marie's chair for her. "Tony, this is Marie DeAcanto. Marie, this is Tony Stark and Pepper Potts." Tony was holding out Pepper's chair which was next to Victors. She glared at Victor but gave Marie a small, almost sympathetic smile.

"Nice ta meet you." Marie said as she settled into the chair.

"Why don't you let me take your shawl to the cloak room?" Tony said, as he picked up Pepper's wrap.

"No thank you, Ah'm a little cool." Marie said as she rested her clutch in her lap.

"Tony, I'll walk you over, I want to drop something off myself." Victor said as Tony started walking across the floor.

"So you and Victor huh? How long's that been going on?" Pepper looked her squarely in the eye.

"Three days, we've known each other longer, but we've actually only been together for three days." Marie said as he stepped out of even his earshot. He just hoped she'd be able to hold her own. He trusted her. He stopped dead in his tracks and Tony looked back at him puzzled.

"Nothing, or rather everything depending." Victor said. Tony smiled.

"Yep I feel that way about Pepper."


End file.
